Professor and Detroit community advocate Mel Ravitz held various posts in Detroit politics, including positions such as the Detroit City Plan Commission Director of Community Organization, on the Detroit City Council and as staff director of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Services Board. As a professor at Wayne State University, Mr. Ravitz assisted in the formation of the University’s Department of Urban Planning.

Mr. Ravitz’s papers reflect his interests in community organizing and neighborhood revitalization, and serve to document the history of Detroit politics and the social and economic changes that the city faced during the later half of the twentieth century. In addition there are files relating to his activities to 2005.